


Responsibility

by Dimensional_Nexus



Series: Shards in the Nexus [3]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29984238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dimensional_Nexus/pseuds/Dimensional_Nexus
Summary: She'd come to Silas to get away from the troubles back home. Too bad they'd followed her.Part of a collection of story ideas.
Series: Shards in the Nexus [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205714





	Responsibility

**Author's Note:**

> Laura is wearing the Big Time Suit for this story, just so you know

Laura was in better spirits than she had been lately as she left her Journalism class that afternoon. Her Dad's package with her backlog of freelance work in the Bugle had finally arrived. Now, Professor Cochrane had more than just her word that she'd been dabbling in photojournalism for years. The Professor had believed her, but the standing extra credit for actual outside-of-class reporting required documentation.

"Yo, frosh, what's put the kick in your step?"

"Oh, hey, LaF, Perry!" she greeted the two enthusiastically, throwing an arm across each of their shoulders. "Well, I finally got Prof. Cochrane the stuff she needed for my extra credit."

"Oh, the pictures you were telling us about. You know, some of that sounded awfully dangerous, hanging around battles between superhumans," Perry scolded her.

"I was fine, Spider-Woman's a friend, she'd never let anything happen to little ol' me," Laura shot back confidently, not letting on the real reason her career photographing superheroes had been so successful.

"Hmm, if you've been published in an honest-to-God newspaper, why are you so poor?"

"LaFontaine!"

They shrugged, unapologetic.

"It's fine, Perry. The short answer is that my boss was a grade-A asshole."

"That would do it, yeah," LaF replied, looking thoughtful. "Think you could get me a sample of her blood?"

Laura dropped her arms and sputtered, "Why?"

"Science."

"What an illuminating answer," another voice deadpanned from behind them.

"Hello, Carmilla," Laura said, trying her best to be civil and not let her overly sarcastic roommate drag her down. "How long have you been stalking us?"

"Oh, just a bit, and it was more lurking than stalking, obviously."

She bit back a retort, determined not to be drawn into yet another vitriolic back-and-forth. Fortunately, their conversation was cut short by a flood of students all pelting at top speed past them. It took a little bit more strength that she realistically should have possessed but she yanked LaF and Perry out of the stampede's path. Screams began drifting from the direction the students had run from. The four ran toward the commotion, three curious and one concerned.

"Oh, Spider! Come out and play!" A loud voice boomed over the noise as they got closer and Laura froze so completely she almost fell over. The other three looked at her and were surprised by the genuine terror in her eyes.

"Laura, honey," Perry started, closing the distance and putting a hand on her shoulder, "are you okay?"

"No, no I am definitely not," she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes even as they hardened and she took off again towards the voice.

As it turned out, the commotion was in the large, open area just outside their dorm. A towering, male figure wrapped in black stood in the center, toying with a contingent of Campus Security. His muscles bulged and his mouth was more a maw of jagged teeth with a large, grotesque tongue.

"Holy shit, is that who I think it is?" LaF's voice was strangled, and they unconsciously moved between Perry and what could only be...

"Venom," Laura breathed, her voice subdued. Her shoulders slumped and there was an almost defeated look in her eyes as she watched the supervillain snag a guard's weapon and yank him forward. The guard sprawled at Venom's feet, he reached down and picked the unfortunate man up by his wrists.

"It was a nice effort, but it will take more than a few guns to stop us," he roared and spun, flinging the poor bastard into the wall of the dorm, where he impacted with a wet thump and went still.

"Laura!" Danny's voice came from their right. She ran up and hugged Laura tight, "I'm glad you're alright, but you guys need to get out of here."

Laura was still slumped and didn't seem to really be paying attention. She was just staring at the broken, battered forms of the Security officers who'd responded. _I came here to get away from all this._ She looked up at her dorm room window, and remembered the still-unopened box beneath her bed. _But I can't just sit and watch, can I? Never could._ Danny was nearly sent sprawling as Laura broke her grip and took off running for the dorm's back door, thankfully on the side away from Venom.

"Crap," Danny muttered. She let out an odd call and suddenly there were six of her Summer sisters dashing towards them. "If they can't handle it, we'll just have to."

"Are you insane, Danny? You do remember who this is, right?"

"If we stay out of the way, I'm sure the Dean will handle it," Carmilla argued, but sounded uncertain. Supervillains weren't exactly her purview, but Mother was very powerful. She didn't particularly like Lawrence, either, but she'd also rather not have to try and forget the image of her being splattered across the grass.

"Like she's handled the missing girls? Is she just gonna make him disappear and pretend none of this happened?"

Their arguing was interrupted as Venom snarled in frustration, the last officer having just been plucked from his grasp as he went for the kill.

"You know, Brock, I liked you better when you were just a blowhard with no powers."

"Spider! How nice of you to finally join us, we were getting bored!"

They all started as the black clad figure of Spider-Woman landed among them, the neon lines on her costume shining bright even in the afternoon sun. Her voice was noticeably altered as she handed the last officer to Danny, the woman's leg badly broken, "Take care of her."

"We can help."

"Yeah, you can, by getting everyone out of here," Despite the alteration, her tone made it clear she'd be having no arguments. Danny let out a resigned sigh and motioned for her sisters to surround them as she helped the officer hobble away. The spider-themed hero turned to LaF next, "I hear you're pretty smart."

"It's been said."

"I need a way to generate either extreme heat or powerful sonic waves."

"Doable, be right back," LaF grabbed Perry and took off for the Physics building, those nerds owed them a favor anyway. "Carmilla, gonna need you for this."

"Why?"

"Very large, sciencey objects and I'm not a super-strong vampire."

"Ugh, fine," Carmilla threw up her hands and took off after the redheads.

Venom was simply waiting patiently in the center of the field, absently picking at his nails with his symbiote pulled back from his hands. "We're sorry, Spider, we thought we were scheduled to tear you apart."

"Wait, you were waiting on me? I thought I was waiting on you. So sorry, one beatdown coming up!" she yelled and leapt right for Venom, his smile impossibly wide because of the symbiote and more than a bit disturbing. At the last second, she cast a webline at the dorm and yanked, changing her momentum abruptly and causing him to overextend. When he looked back up she was nowhere to be found.

"Are we still doing this, little Spider? Your stupid disappearing act?"

"Apparently," she reappeared sliding towards him, transitioning into a handspring when she got close. Both her feet met his chin hard, his head snapping back. She cast another web and pulled herself out of his range. He jumped after her and slammed into the side of building as she hit it and dodged. They were now facing off standing sideways on the dorm, each tensed, waiting for the other to move. Venom's impatience won out and he dove for her, she jumped and cast a line from each hand. They connected on either side of her target and she yanked, again making contact with both feet. He grunted but recovered quickly, spinning fast enough to backhand her across the quad. She hissed in pain and clutched her stomach, was she really this out of shape? She barely looked back up in time to roll out of the way, scrambling back to her feet as Venom's hammer blow left a small crater in the lawn. She hit his fists, still entwined from the attempt, with a blob of webbing that exploded across them and his face.

"You pest!" he bit out, yanking at the webbing, trying hard to free himself. She hit the blob with a line of webbing and ran towards Venom, jumping over as she neared and giving a hefty tug on the line in her hand when she landed.

"Stop hitting yourself," she taunted as the web pulled taut, his elbows buckling and sending his fists solidly into his own face.

"Spider, we really, really hate you," he groaned, shaking his head as she pulled again. This time he ducked and pulled back, stumbling a bit as she released the line. He broke the web with a growl and let out a noise of frustration upon seeing that she'd vanished again. An idea came to him and he waited a second for her to close in and then roared, releasing a massive number of sharp tendrils outward in every direction. There was a yelp, and he smiled as he drew them back. He turned and saw her laying on her back a few feet behind him, hand clutched to her shoulder. She'd only barely avoided that hole being through her heart. "Well, it seems our good-for-nothing offspring had at least one good idea."

"Yep, good, old Carnage, always around to teach his dear father new tricks," she groaned, trying her best to get to her feet, the pain near-blinding. "I always thought he had your eyes."

Venom calmly stalked over and stomped down on her chest. She screamed and struggled to breathe against the weight. "Talk all you want little Spider, we think it's time to finally squash you." He began pressing down and she could practically hear her ribs begin to creak. She weakly raised her good arm in a last act of defiance and webbed over his stupid grin. Her reward was another stomp and three broken ribs. "Any last words?"

"Getting killed by a meathead with an IQ less than his age is a real bummer."

Another stomp, two more broken ribs. Yep, she was definitely gonna die. She hoped Danny and LaF could figure out what had happened to the missing girls, that Perry would keep them from getting into too much trouble, and a small, rebellious part of her brain was totally gonna miss her roommate's penchant for leather pants. Just as she was imagining whether or not her Dad would be sad or angry, Venom began screaming above her, clutching his hands to his head before leaping away. She weakly turned her head and saw Carmilla, standing there wearing what could only be called tactical earmuffs and holding some sort of device larger than she was. Venom recovered and cast a line of web that Carmilla dodged easily. A small beep coming from the mass of wires and metal brought a wicked grin to her face and she blasted the villain again. Last time must have been a glancing blow because, this time, half of the symbiote was torn away and Eddie's screams could be heard alongside it. He fell to his knees, naked from the waist up, his suit desperately trying to reform. Another beep and he barely got his bearings enough to roll away, still losing a leg of his suit.

"Argh! Next time, Spider, next time," his voice was pained but murderous as he plunged his hand into the suit at his waist. The symbiote reformed his web shooter in time to snag a building and pull himself away just as another beep sounded.

Carmilla was at her side in an instant, setting the device where she could easily retrieve it, but reaching for her. She held up a hand, "Five broken ribs, who knows how many cracked or bruised, big hole in my shoulder, just let me lay here for a sec." Her breathing was distinctly unhealthy and her speech was more gasping than words.

"You know, Cupcake, I never pictured you for the crime-fighting in pajamas crowd. Though it does explain your illustrious career with the Daily Bugle."

"Don't know what you're talking about."

"Laura, your blood's everywhere, I can smell it."

"Everywhere, huh? That can't be good."

"Definitely not. I'm guessing this isn't something you want advertised to the whole school?"

"Nope."

Carmilla sighed, and gingerly picked her up, moving at a fast pace that was at least a little gentle on her injuries. She carried her into their room, and deliberately set her in the wrong bed.

"Carmilla?"

"Used to blood on my sheets, cutie. Now how do I get this mask off?"

Laura rolled her head to the side. Carmilla saw a small button the same color as the suit itself and pressed it, causing the mask's material to go slack and disconnect from the body. She pulled it off and stuffed it under her sheets with Laura, wrapping the smaller girl up in her comforter. She tilted her head for a second before asking, "What should I tell them?"

"I'm from New York. Just tell them I've met Venom before. It's not a lie and post-villain PTSD is fairly well-documented."

"Sneaky, I'll be back soon and they'll probably want to see you."

"Fine."

"The deception stands on one condition."

"What?"

"I take you to the hospital tonight, discreetly."

"Ugh, fine. As long as you know a doctor that won't freak out when he sees my skin fixing itself way faster than normal."

"I think I know a guy."

Carmilla left the room then, returning in about ten minutes with Danny, LaF, and Perry. Laura pretended to be asleep. Putting on the suit again had been exhausting enough, let alone dealing with her injuries. She heard Danny call her name and then footsteps, but Carmilla headed her off, explaining their cover story. Thankfully, Perry took Carmilla's side on letting her sleep and Danny backed down. They stayed for a few more minutes before dispersing, LaF complaining about having to haul the whatever-it-was that had saved her life back to the Physics department.

"What the hell was that thing, anyway?" she asked, after Carmilla had closed and locked the door, for the first time she could remember.

"The way LaF explains it, the guys over in the Physics department got bored and lonely and were trying to recreate a Siren's song, only to lure in women. A few explosions and mistakes later, the most powerful sonic cannon on the continent."

"...sounds like Silas, alright. Hey, Carm?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I wasn't ready to put this suit back on. I had to, though, and I'm glad you had my back."

"Anytime, Laura."

* * *

Carmilla watched over Laura in her hospital bed, bandaged and drugged up to her eyeballs. Her Mother's staff physician knew better than to ask questions or linger in the room. Mother retained him for exactly that reason, he was damn good at his job and knew when to pretend things weren't happening. She heard a small noise and saw Laura begin to shift and shake.

"Gwen..."

Laura had apparently burned through the drugs. Where once she was sleeping like a rock she was now calling out quietly and thrashing.

"Gwen!"

Carmilla was reaching to wake her when she bolted upright, hand held out in front of her, tears pooling in her eyes. She looked around the room, confused. She locked eyes with Carmilla and the vampire could feel the sorrow in them like a weight on her heart. She barely had time to brace herself as Laura practically launched herself at her, wrapping Carmilla tightly in her arms and sobbing loudly into her shoulder. Carmilla gasped as Laura squeezed, acutely reminded of the smaller girl's immense strength. She dimly remembered news footage of Spider-Woman catching a police cruiser tossed into the air by the Rhino as she embraced Laura in return and let her cry. She wondered who Gwen was, but Laura had respected her secrets, so she'd do the same.


End file.
